I’m planning on applying to Stanford, Princeton, MIT, or CalTech EA along with some other public schools. Since Stanford and Princeton’s EA is restrictive, I can only apply there if I decide to apply EA to them. Or, I can apply to both MIT or CalTech EA, but I’ve heard that for schools like that, its harder to get in EA than Regular. Which one should I apply for Early?
You know your odds are rough with all of them. So I’d do this: If you hypothetically rec’d offers from all four – which do you envision yourself taking? If it’s S or P, then apply there SCEA and the other, plus MIT & CalTech during RD (just in case). If it’s MIT or CalTech, then apply to both MIT & Caltech EA and to P & S during Regular.
Of course, this presumes affordability for each. I wouldn’t worry about the perceived ease/difficulty of applying to any of those schools ED or RD
Of the four schools listed, my advice would be to choose the one that you think you have the best shot to get into. Since EA is not binding, it is better to maybe shoot for the one that you think you are more likely to get into- it can be a confidence boost to get an acceptance early on in the game. However, something I have seen in my school is that sometimes these highly selective schools (stanford, in my school’s case) have a very bad track record of accepting students EA (often rejecting EA applicants), but accept quite a few RD. Sometimes there is a bit of gaming involved in EA/ED decisions.